Under the cloak of invisibility
by NervousPurpleHairSpray
Summary: Forgive me for the title, might change it soon! Basically when I found there was a character: "Annabeth's hat" my mind overdrived and wanted to trace back the people who'd worn it, like riptide, that hat could have a history! I write more about it in the story - sorry! I hope you like it! XD
1. Chapter 1

I was completely fixated that 'Annabeth's hat was listed as a character and naturally my brain came up with a little teaser idea, tracing her hat through some of the previous owners like riptide. Review's would be amazing as otherwise I don't know if anyone likes the comment anyway I should shut up and write now – thanks!

I clutch the hat in my hands, trying not to consider what I'm going to do, if what's inside is as dangerous as my journey here... My breath quickens as does my pace, and I try to breathe and stay calm again. I turn to my one companion on this quest, we set off from Camp Half Blood three weeks ago and already a member of our party is dead. I already tried to cry and mourn for him but my tears only froze on my face and only angered my companion Hesiod.

"We should camp" He has to yell to let me hear him across the wind. For the first days of our journey it knocked me over, but I've learnt to take it, with frozen fingers and altitude sickness.

"No!" I don't know if he's heard me so I turn to him and shake my head: "We have to go – we can make it." He reaches out to grab my arm and draws me closer to him and shakes his head at me, his stubbornness showing: "Listen if we make it to the top dead, that won't help anyone". I have to give in, we will never survive divided.

I reach into our packs, looking at our painfully limited supply of food and fuel. We have to make it to the top or surely we will both die. Suddenly my companion stiffens and I put my hat on reflexively. He looks from left to right and suddenly I see what he sees – Kobalos. We've seen a lot worse on our journey and these little impish creatures shouldn't frighten us too much. However we know they mean we're getting closer to the top of this mountain.

They're in a group of about four and they flutter forwards towards Hesoid, he knows he has little to fear and so watches them twinkle over towards him. They fly around his head, and then make for his backpack, to try to pull it away. I thank Athena again for my hat as I creep up behind the creatures, each holding a different end of the pack in their hands. My sword swings down and kills three in one stroke, and then I reach out and stab the last creature.

Hesoid grins: "Maybe we'll eat tonight."

I pick one up: "Look at that. Barely any meat on it"

He chuckles: "They were pretty cute."

"That's if you didn't know they were spies"

His laughter increases: "Ligeia – everything's a spy for you"

"And everything's safe in your head. Anyway we can't risk it. Anyway" I smile and reach out for him: "We're going to spy, so I should know."

"Have you counted our timber, and food?"

I stare over to him: "Of course. We have enough to get there and spy on them."

"Yes. We do. But…we can never climb back down from this mountain."

I stare at him: "But how will we tell what we've – found out"

"The Gods have made sure our mission is doomed"

"They don't know we're here"

"They're waiting for us to reach the top of Mount Olympus. We defied them. They want us to climb to the top and know that we're going to die."

I close my eyes and suddenly feel an age older. It comes out as a whimper: "Mother." Then I turn to Hesoloid: "How long have you known? When did we lose enough?"

"When he died"

I lunge at him: "And you let me continue walking up here believing we were safe?"

He barks straight back "Of course not. I look and found something – we cannot travel back further than fifty paces"

"What do you mean?" I'm scared, not angry now. Hesoid takes my hand and leads me backwards, counting our steps. Then suddenly at the fortieth I see what we're walking towards, a great chasm. I turn to him again: "So our choices are to freeze or starve?"

"No. We have one other." I suddenly understand what he means. I take his hand and we count our paces, right up to the tenth where I take of my hat, my pack and my coat and lie them on the ground. Hesoid follows me. Then I hold his hand again and we count down five seconds together and step of, together. Then we fall.

**Hiya, me again. I hope it wasn't too heavy or anything, I just kind of kept writing and then killed of my characters, not even entirely sure how it happened. Anyway, ideas, should I write more? Thanks for reading this and hope my thoughts aren't **_**too**_** annoying XD**


	2. Umniya Part One

It looks like this is going to be a continued chapter, I feel as if I'm completely overburdening you with information on Umniya and her story with the hat. I'm thinking about giving it a Greek name, because Annabeth's hat – does not sound the most mythical concept!

And thank you so much TheGreekGoddessAphrodite/Ella for your review and subscription It's especially great coming from you as I read some of your stories (you made me want Thalia-Nico, still slightly confused about how that happened :S) So thank you, and I hope you enjoy this!

Umniya didn't suffer from altitude sickness at such heights, the only risk of it was when she climbed down to sell her wares at the bigger market. Unlike Ligeia she had been raised in a village situated about ten miles from this spot, the spot where the Gods had trapped Ligeia and Hesoid, so she knew that in Summer the grass was fertile and medical herbs grew. The herbs…

Umniya tried to remember what her mother had told her the herb looked like.

She bit her lip again, imagining the expression on her mother's face when she came back without it. Maybe if she tried a little bit further, the purple flower would be in the next field. Or the next… Finally her search paid off and she knelt down to dig, ever so gently the plant and its roots, then they could grow it outside their house. She grinned at her find until suddenly she managed to dig up something entirely different.

Umniya ran a finger across the stitching proclaiming: "Camp Half-Blood", meaning nothing to her. The villagers could hardly afford to send their children to school, and even if they could the children would spend four hours travelling to and from the school. She placed the pack in her lap and opened it and took out the dagger she found inside, and dug around the ground until she found the hat. Umniya packed up contents of both packs into one and took them half way home before she realised she had left the herb, and walked the four miles back to where Ligeia and Hesoid had died together.

It was three years before she actually understood what the hat could do. She saw many of the villagers secrets, the unlikely romances between her neighbours, she saw her older brothers first kiss. Her tread was so quiet and subtle she still seemed invisible without the hat, and probably spent more time invisible than visible, and she walked all her errands invisible. This probably was what saved her life.

She walked home straddling the lamb in her arms, he'd struggled at first but she'd sung to him and the lamb slept comfortably, completely in ignorance of his invisibility. He wasn't her parents lamb, and yet she was the one sent to fetch him from the fields? The injustice of this wasn't lost on her as she muttered under her breath about her parents, and how much better she would be. Her revenge was to drop the lamb – it wasn't his fault at all – off to his owner – completely invisible, just to see if it scared the owner. She was sure it was the owners fault – but her plan wasn't over yet! She would creep up in front of her mother holding a bucket of water and drop it over her head, and run as fast as she could. She could never be caught, and it was all her mother's fault.

The closer she made it to her village, the faster she ran because something wasn't right. The lamb was lost in her hurry and she ran faster and faster, seeing the smoke billowing above the houses. "It can't just be from the fire. It can't be!" – and it wasn't. She ran past her Uncle's house which was entirely on fire, and ran past all the villagers who were running and screaming to get away from the soldiers. She accidently barrelled herself straight into one of the soldiers who swung to grab her, but she ducked and slid through his legs. Where were they? She ran into her house, and looked by the well where she had left the packs, and searched for the sword and the dagger she had found. Then she ran, armed and invisible, into the house.

Flames were beginning to lick the building but the smoke hadn't hit yet, and that was the most important thing: "Mum?" Her voice sounded so young and weak: "Dad?" Even weaker. She ran into the next room and saw her parents lying on the floor, but even from the door she could see they were breathing. They were alive, and then Umniya looked up to see the soldiers sword make its course down and find its place in her Fathers heart.

She shrieked with rage and lunged to reach the soldier, remembering to raise the dagger and watched it land in his eye. She laughed and retreated as she watched him clasp his hand over his eyeball, then held her breath again and assessed the two soldiers in the room with her. The taller one tried to stem the blood dripping from his eye ball with little success and howled in rage. The smaller one ran to help him and closed the door, muttering to his companion: "It's in here. I can feel it."

"It's a curse. We can't fight against dark magic!" Emphasising his words some of the roof fell, right by his foot "My – eye."

Umniya tried to feel sympathy but one glance at her Father convinced her otherwise. She steadily moved to the right, so to attack the young soldier who's head whipped from side to side to see or hear a clue. She approached closer, holding out the sword, then in one movement his sword left his scabbard and met hers. He twisted the blade around hers and struck forward but she had spun to one side and struck again, but he moved! In one swift movement his blade tried to defend himself but Umniya brought her sword down from behind him. The larger soldier stared at his companion then ran out of her house into relative safety.

She tore the hat of and knelt down by her mother: "Can- can you hear me? Mum!"

Her eye cracked open to look up at her daughter

"What did they do to you? What happened?"

Her mother reached her arms up and embraced her daughter one last time, Umniya let out loud ugly sobs as she held onto her "I don't want you to go. You can't leave me – you can't!"

But she did.

And as Umniya walked through her burning village she swore revenge. The raid was carried out by the soldiers of a kingdom further away than her mountain, and her village, far away to the East. But Umniya swore to herself that she could fight them and she would – she would find the King of the soldiers, the one who ordered the raid and make him pay.

"You see, I'm just driving to the West, I need to sell these." The owner of the horse-and-cart gestured to the various garments and food, then looked down into two fierce determined eyes of the young and slightly impertinent boy "West? Why West?"

"Well, you see, young man I brought these to the North. So I can't sell them in the North. I can't sell them in the South because…You don't need to know why I can't sell them there."

The young boy still didn't drop eye contact: "Why can't you go to the South?"

He snapped: "I got arrested – alright? I got a bit – well drunk and then –" He stopped to glare at the chuckling lad.

"Why don't you sell them in the East?"

"Because…"

"Did you get drunk there too?"

"Enough! I could sell to the East, yes"

"Then why don't you?"

The man lifted his hand to his head again. This boy was a piece of work "Because I don't want too"

"There's more business there"

"How'd you know?"

"Just do."

The man scratched his head again: "Alright then."

"So where are you heading?"

Umniya slept in the back of the cart, she'd had worst places to sleep in since her village was destroyed. In this disease ridden city there was always somewhere to squat down and sleep in, on the streets, if she felt brave the back of a shop, or a house. Once or twice the sewers. She'd made her living fighting by challenging people and alternating strikes, no need for magic because she knew if she was going to get her revenge she would have to be a good fighter. Once she had the opponent pinned, she'd ask them how much they'd give for their life. Quite an attraction in the dirty city, and the way she saw it, if someone was became better than her and won she didn't deserve to fill her mission.

The mission became a fixation and she would train in the slightly cleaner air in the fields and watched any other swordfights so she could develop their agility and know the skills needed. And as she looked back at the city as it the cart drove away she only felt pleasure that now she could fight to kill the leader of the soldiers who killed her parents. She saw the years she spent here as training, her entire life after their deaths as preparation until she could join her parents. Umniya was about sixteen now, but she never regretted the time spent in this city, six years was a small price to pay to watch the death of the man who commanded the death of her parents. She was almost there.


End file.
